Q&A with Cary Nelson

Cary Nelson talked about the social, political, and cultural forces undermining the principle of academic freedom. He described the…
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Cary Nelson talked about the social, political, and cultural forces undermining the principle of academic freedom. He described the increasing struggles for governance and unionization of faculty, stating that universities are exploiting faculty and adjunct employees with low wages and long hours. He believed higher education leaders needed to bolster wages and insure the basic rights of teachers. He responded to tenure and academic freedom critics such as Naomi Schaefer Riley, a “Q&A” guest the previous week and author of The Faculty Lounges. He also spoke about his early-life influences and his decision to enter the teaching profession.

Cary Nelson was a professor of English and a Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching modern poetry and literary theory courses. He has authored or edited over 25 books, including Manifesto of a Tenured Radical. close

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*The transcript for this program was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.